On the opening possession of the Jets' Thursday night game in New England, everything seemed to be working early.

"We were executing," QB Justin Fields said of the Jets' 14-play, 72-yard touchdown drive that consumed over 8 minutes of the first quarter. "We were getting good plays, run game was good, O-line was controlling the line of scrimmage and everybody was doing their job. That first drive we came out hot and punched it in."

Fields took it in himself from 5-yards out to cap the opening series, sprinting to the perimeter and beating a defender to cross the goal line for the score. The TD capped a scoring drive put together almost entirely on the ground. Despite facing an opponent that entered the contest with the top-ranked rush defense in the NFL, allowing just 79.2 average yards per game, the Jets stuck to their game plan and found success early.

"It was smooth sailing," RB Breece Hall said. "Went down, got everything we wanted. Four third-down conversions, put the ball in the end zone. That's what a good offense looks like."

Hall, who eclipsed 3,000 career rushing yards in first quarter of Thursday's primetime contest, contributed 17 yards on 4 carries during the opening drive, while Fields added 28 with his legs. The offensive production quickly stalled, though, as the Jets' 3 second quarter possessions all resulted in 3-and-outs.

"At the end of the day, we've got to make more plays on third down," Hall said. "Can't have bad penalties. We didn't have too many today, but we had enough to hurt us. [We need to] convert when it matters. That was the tale of today -- they made more plays than we did."

The offense came back to life briefly in the third quarter, as Fields orchestrated a 9-play, 65-yard score series that ended with a 22-yard TD pass to WR John Metchie III, the first of his Jets' career. Fields finished the day 15-of-26 for 116 yards through the air and the touchdown, but the plays made with his legs did most of the damage. Fields rushed for 67 yards, his second-highest mark this season.

"We don't want to make a habit of our quarterback just continuing to run, because we can put him in harm's way," HC Aaron Glenn said. "… He did a good job on some of those runs. We just have to be very calculated on when we do those things."

The Jets recorded 140 rushing yards in the loss, which was the most against the Patriots' defense this season. Hall, who finished the day with 58 rushing yards, was just the second running back to surpass 50 yards on the ground against New England this season. And while the Jets were able to find some success on the ground against a stout opponent, they did not make enough plays -- both in the passing and run game -- to secure the win.

"There are some good things," Glenn said of Fields' play. "There are some really good things. I thought he put some balls out there. We've got to have some guys that make some plays for him, too."